Optical detector for a particle sorting system

ABSTRACT

An optical system for acquiring fast spectra from spatially channel arrays includes a light source for producing a light beam that passes through the microfluidic chip or the channel to be monitored, one or more lenses or optical fibers for capturing the light from the light source after interaction with the particles or chemicals in the microfluidic channels, and one or more detectors. The detectors, which may include light amplifying elements, detect each light signal and transducer the light signal into an electronic signal. The electronic signals, each representing the intensity of an optical signal, pass from each detector to an electronic data acquisition system for analysis. The light amplifying element or elements may comprise an array of phototubes, a multianode phototube, or a multichannel plate based image intensifier coupled to an array of photodiode detectors.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/495,374, filed Aug. 14, 2003, the contents ofwhich are expressly incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for monitoringparticles flowing through a channel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a system, such as a microfluidic system, that conveys particlesthrough one or more channels, an optical system may be used formonitoring, analyzing or detecting the particles. Optical systems may beuseful, for example in particle sorting systems, which sort a stream ofparticles flowing through one or more channels based on a predeterminedcharacteristic.

Conventional detection systems have significant drawbacks. For example,prior optical detection systems are at times inaccurate and provide poorresults due to the difficulty of observing low light level signals fromfluorescent labels on particles when spread out over a large area. Prioroptical systems also have difficulty when the light signals to bedetected are of short duration, for example, less than one millisecond.For example, conventional CCD (charge coupled device) technology has aframe rate of more than one millisecond.

Prior systems for interrogating microchannels also are limited tofocusing light on a single channel, a region of less than about 500 um,and capturing light from a similarly limited region.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an optical system for acquiring fastspectra from spatially channel arrays. The system is designed to be usedto interrogate a microfluidic particle analysis or sorting chip thatcontains an array of one or more parallel fluidic channels spaced over 1to 200 millimeters. The particles conveyed in the channels havevelocities from 0.1 to 10 meters per second, therefore the signalsobserved by the detectors may be sub-millisecond in duration and mayrequire observation with 1 to 100 Megahertz bandwidth detectors andelectronics.

The optical detection system includes a light source for producing alight beam that passes through the microfluidic chip or the channel tobe monitored, one or more lenses or optical fibers for capturing thelight from the light source after interaction with the particles orchemicals in the microfluidic channels, and one or more detectors. Thedetectors, which may include light amplifying elements, detect eachlight signal and transduce the light signal into an electronic signal.The electronic signals, each representing the intensity of an opticalsignal, pass from each detector to an electronic data acquisition systemfor analysis. The light amplifying element or elements may comprise anarray of phototubes, a multianode phototube, or a multichannel platebased image intensifier coupled to an array of photodiode detectors.

The optical system cost effectively and simultaneously capturesextinction signals, one or more optical scatter signals, and one or morefluorescence signals all at low light levels and at high bandwidth (>1MHz) from an array of one or more particle conveying channels at once.The system provides efficient and accurate monitoring of each particleunder various conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention will be apparent from the description herein and theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to thesame parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system having a plurality of channels for conveyingstreams of particles, suitable for implementing an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an optical detection system of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross section through one microchannel in a planeperpendicular to the microchannel FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of anoptical detection system of the present invention, illustrating indetail the components of the fluorescence detector.

FIG. 5 illustrates an optical detection system suitable for analyzingparticles in a plurality of channels of a microfluidic system.

FIGS. 6A-6C shows an embodiment of the subsystem for detecting opticalscatter at a 90 degree angle or extinction in the optical detectionsystem or FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a schematic of beam shaping optics suitable for use in theoptical detection system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 illustrates a segmented mirror suitable for using in the opticaldetection system of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a partial view of a groove of the segmented mirror of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a table showing different configurations for a groove of thesegmented mirror based on a corresponding spot width.

FIG. 11 is a schematic of beam shaping optics employing a segmentedmirror in an optical detection system of an illustrative embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates an image intensifier suitable for use with theoptical detection system of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an optical system for monitoring anddetecting particle flow through an array of channels. The presentinvention will be described below relative to illustrative embodiments.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention maybe implemented in a number of different applications and embodiments andis not specifically limited in its application to the particularembodiments depicted herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a microfluidic system 10 suitable for implementing anillustrative embodiment of the invention, including a plurality ofchannels for conveying a substance, such as particles or cells,therethrough. The illustrative microfluidic system 10 comprises asubstrate 1 having a plurality of channels, such as microchannels 3,disposed therein. The channels transport fluid and/or particles throughthe microfluidic system 10 for processing, handling, and/or performingany suitable operation on a liquid sample. As used herein, the term“microfluidic” refers to a system or device for handling, processing,ejecting and/or analyzing a fluid sample including at least one channelhaving microscale dimensions. The term “channel” as used herein refersto a pathway formed in or through a medium that allows for movement offluids, such as liquids and gases. The term “microchannel” refers to achannel preferably formed in a microfluidic system or device havingcross-sectional dimensions in the range between about 1.0 μm and about500 μm, preferably between about 25 μm and about 350 μm and mostpreferably between about 50 μm and about 300 μm. One of ordinary skillin the art will be able to determine an appropriate volume and length ofthe channel. The ranges are intended to include the above-recited valuesas upper or lower limits. The channel can have any selected shape orarrangement, examples of which include a linear or non-linearconfiguration and a U-shaped configuration. The microfluidic system 10may comprise any suitable number of microchannels 3 for transportingfluids through the microfluidic system 10.

The present invention provides an optical detector for use with amicrofluidic chip, such as the microfluidic system of FIG. 1. Theoptical detector of the present invention may be implemented in ameasurement region 2 of the microfluidic system to interrogate thesystem in this region. The invention provides facilitates building of adetection system that can scale to microfluidic chips with parallelarrays of channels from 1 to 200 channels laid out over one or moreinterrogation regions 2, that have physical extent from 1 to 250 mm withpreferred extent from 1 to 100 mm.

The optical detector may monitor flow through a plurality of channels inthe chip simultaneously. The optical detector or a system of opticaldetectors can inspect individual particles for one or more particularcharacteristics, such as size, form, fluorescent intensity opticalscattering, as well as other characteristics obvious to one of ordinaryskill. For example, in an illustrative embodiment, the optical detectorof the present invention can be positioned over a relatively large areaof the chip (e.g., an active area of between about twelve millimetersand fifty millimeters in diameter) containing over one-hundred channelsof flowing particles to be observed. The optical detector is capable ofcost effectively capturing fast, low light level, signals from aplurality or all of the channels at once. One skilled in the art willrecognize that the optical system is not limited to use in particle orcell sorting systems and may be implemented in any suitable systemhaving a substance, such as particles, to be monitored flowing throughone or more channels.

FIG. 2 illustrates an overview of an optical detection system 8 of anillustrative embodiment of the invention, which may be implemented inthe microfluidic system of FIG. 1. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that the optical detection system may be implemented in anysuitable system and is not limited to the microfluidic system of FIG. 1.

The optical detection system 8 includes a light source 11, illustratedas a laser, coupled to beam shaping optics 12 for producing and forminga beam of light 14 that passes through an optical mask 13, illustratedas an array of pinholes aligned with an array of particle conveyingchannels 3 in the microfluidic chip 10. The light admitted by thepinholes subsequently passes through the conveying channels 3themselves. The light beam admitted to each channel via one or moreassociated pin holes intersects particles 18 are conveyed through thechannel 3 to create optical signals. Examples of optical signals thatcan be produced in optical particle analysis, cytometry or sorting whena light beam intersects a particle include optical extinction, angledependent optical scatter and fluorescent light. Optical extinctionrefers to the amount of light that passes the particle withoutinteracting. Angle dependent optical scatter refers to the fraction oflight that is scattered or bent at each angle (theta) away from theincident light beam. Fluorescent light is light that is absorbed bymolecules in the particle and re-emitted at a longer wavelength.

Detector optics 15, 16, 17, located on an opposite side of the channel 3from the light source 11, capture and observe the optical signalsgenerated by the intersection of a light beam with a particle in achannel. Optical Extinction detectors 15 are placed directly oppositethe light source 11 and aligned with the incident light path 14 fordetecting optical extinction. Optical scatter detectors 16 are placedsubstantially perpendicular to the incident light path 14 in the planeformed by the incident light vector and the microfluidic channel itintersects. Preferably, the optical scatter detectors are located at anangle of about 90 degrees relative to the incident light path 14.Optical Scatter detectors for other angles may optionally be placed atthose angles in that same plane. A fluorescence detection subsystem 17captures optical signals from fluorescence. The fluorescence detectionsubsystem 17 may include a large high numerical aperture lens andaccompanying optical elements. As shown, the fluorescence detectionsubsystem is placed above the microfluidic chip 10 to capture as manyfluorescent photons as possible and image them onto detectors (notshown).

The optical detection system 8 may be implemented in an interrogationarea 2 of the chip 10. The illustrative interrogation area 2 encompasses24 channels 3, though one skilled in the art will recognize that anysuitable number of channels may be observed using the optical detectionsystem 8. In the illustrative embodiment, the interrogation area 2 isabout 10 mm wide (across a plurality of channels 3) by 4 mm long (alongeach channel 3), though one skilled in the art will recognize that theinvention is not limited to this range

When light 14 from a laser 11 or other optical source is incident on thechip 10, only light that passes through the narrow region that particlesfollow can interact with particles to produce an optical signal. Lightthat passes through the chip 10 outside of the channels 3 or light thatpasses through a region of a channel that does not contain the particlescan contribute only to background or noise and not to signal andtherefore is stray light and should be minimized. It is also aconsideration that light which passes through the chip without passingthrough the particles to be observed represents wasted laser sourcepower and should therefore be minimized for cost and thermal managementreasons. The optical mask 13, formed by the layer of pinholes, and thebeam shaping optics 12 both minimize stray light and minimizes waste oflaser power.

As shown, the light source 11 provides the incident light at about a45-degree angle relative to the channel 3. In this manner, the forwardscatter/extinction extends in the same direction on the opposite side ofthe channel 3. As shown, the forward scatter 14 b extends at a 45-degreeangle from the channel 3. The side scatter 14 c extends about 90 degreesfrom the incident light, providing the fluorescence optics 17 a cone ofmechanical freedom 170. The cone of mechanical freedom 170 provides a 90degree unobstructed view for the detector in between the forward scatter14 b and side scatter 14 c.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative picture of the cross section through a partof a microfluidic chip 10 containing a pair of microchannels 3 a and 3b. The cross-section is in a plane that cuts through the microchannelsand the pinholes 13 a, 13 b of the mask 13. The incident light 14 ispartly blocked by the pinhole layer 13 and narrows the initial beam 14to focused beams 18 defined by each pinhole 13 a, 13 b. The focusedbeams 18 intersect each channel to illuminate the region 31 in whichparticles 18 are permitted to flow in a conventional core flow. Muchstray light is blocked by the pinhole layer 13, which may be a separatepart from the microfluidic chip or may be fabricated on the surface ofthe chip by photolithography or other methods known to those skilled inthe art of chip fabrication.

The microfluidic system may comprise any system including channels forflowing a substance, such as particles or cells, therethrough. Forexample, the microfluidic system 10 may comprise a particle sortingsystem, such as the particle sorting systems described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. Nos. 10/179,488 and 10/329,008, the contents of bothpatent applications are herein incorporated by reference. Other suitablemicrofluidic systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.10/028,852 10/027,484, 10/027,516 and 10/607,287, all of which areherein incorporated by reference.

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of the optical detection systemof FIG. 2 illustrating in detail the components of the fluorescencedetection subsystem 17. The fluorescence detection subsystem 17 includesa high numerical aperture (low F#) collection lens 45 configured andpositioned to capture as many of the photons emitted from theilluminated particle as possible. The lens 45 may be an off the shelfF#=1 lenses of 50 mm and focal length commercially available. An exampleis the Leica Noctilux 50 mm F#1 lens. Larger lenses are also availableand in use for imaging multiwell plates. A dispersive element 46,illustrated as a littrow grating, is located above the first collectionlens 45. The dispersive element 46 bends light in a manner related tothe wavelength of the particular light beam. The illustrative littrowgrating 46 grating is 76.2 mm in diameter with a 73 mm active area. Thelittrow grating 46 has 720 grooves/mm and has a blaze angle of 43.1degrees at 550 nm (the angle that the grating is positioned from thevertical). The Littrow angle is 23.33 degrees which is the angle that550 nm light is bent away from the vertical in FIG. 4. One skilled inthe art will recognize that any suitable means for bending light in aparticular manner may be used in accordance with the teachings of theinvention. A reconstruction lens 47 is positioned at the littrow angleto catch the 1^(st) order diffraction light from the grating 46 andreconstruct the diffracted light into an image of the illuminatedparticle in the image plane 48.

A fiber array 49 extends from the image plane 48 and conveys signals todetectors 50 for analyzing the signal. The detectors may be a camera orother suitable device.

Due to the presence of the littrow grating in the optical path theilluminated particle in the microchannel 3 is imaged into the plane 48with longer wavelength photons tilted through a larger angle thanshorter wavelength photons so that the particle has a spectra spreadover that image plane. Photons having wavelength from 500 nm to 700 nmare spread over about 7841 microns in the image plane 48 for the 50 mmfocal length lenses used for lenses 45 and 47. The illustrativeembodiment has a spectral resolution of 39.2 microns per nm wavelength.

The optical detection system 8 can be used to observe particles labeledwith antibodies bound to fluorophores or other fluorescent particlemarkers known to those skilled in the art of cytometry. When theexcitation light is of 488 nm wavelength then, for example, one can useparticles labeled with antibodies bound to fluorophores FITC(fluorescein isothiocyanate), PE (R-Phycoerythrin), APC(AlloPhycoCyanin) and PerCP (Peridinin-chlorophyll-protein Complex)which have peak fluorescence emission at 530 nm, 575 nm, 630 nm, and 695nm respectively. The photons from FITC, PE, and PerCP are placed ontothe image plane at positions −784 microns, 980 microns, 3136 nm, and5684 microns, (relative to 0 at 550 nm) respectively. An opaque platewith 400 um holes in it and 400 um diameter optical fibers placed inthose holes will then give each fiber 49 a wavelength capture bandwidthof about 10 nm. Placing a fiber 49 at each location corresponding to thepeak emission of desirable fluorophores produces an efficient andcompact multiple color detection system. Fibers 49 placed with one endin the image plane 48 have their other end attached to a detector. Inthe illustrative embodiment, the second end of the fibers is coupled tothe photocathode window of a phototube (for example single anodeH6780-20 or 32-anode H7260-20 phototubes from Hamamatsu Inc.) at alocation corresponding to a single anode, in order to amplify thefluorescence optical signals and convert them to electronic signals.Other amplifying light detectors such as image intensifiers or avalanchephotodiode arrays or others known to those skilled in the art of opticsmay also be used to detect the optical signals and convert them intoelectronic signals.

In FIG. 4, the fibers 49 which interrogate particles in the illustratedchannel are located in the same plane as the plane of the channel in themicrofluidic chip. If the system is used on a multiple channel arraythen the other channels lie in front of the plane of illustrated channelor behind the plane of illustrated channel.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of an optical detector system 80 usedfor observing multiple channels in a microfluidic chip. The opticaldetector system 80 also includes a pinhole array 13 blocking mostincident light 14 and illuminating small detection regions 2 in eachchannel 3 of the six channels of the microfluidic chip. The opticalcolumn of the collection lens, littrow grating and reconstruction lensis similar to that shown in FIG. 4, and can have the same embodiments oflens and grating specifications. In general, the size of the componentsof lens and grating sets must be sufficient to give a field of view onthe chip in excess of the size of the detection region (the region wherechannels are illuminated through pinholes). In the image plane 48 thereis placed a plate 480 holding six arrays 490, including four fiberseach. Each array of four optical fibers 49 is positioned to sample theoptical spectra emitted from an associated channel 3. Each fiber in thearray is positioned on the peak emission location of one fluorophore.High numerical aperture fibers or lensed fibers are appropriate here aswill be apparent to those skilled in the art.

FIGS. 6A-6C shows an embodiment of the subsystem for detecting opticalscatter at a 90 degree angle or extinction. In this embodiment, anoptical extenciton columnated detector ribbon 63 is positioned above amultichannel chip 10 with interchannel spacing of about 500 microns. Theoptical extenciton columnated detector ribbon 63, a cross-section ofwhich is shown in FIG. 6B, is a mechanical part with 300 micron diameterholes drilled in it to a depth of less than the ribbon thickness 63 d,and spaced 500 microns on centers so as to line up the holes withchannel spacing. A high numerical aperture fiber 65 is placed into eachhole to form an array of fibers 61, with one fiber per channel. Acolumnating hole of smaller diameter but concentric with the fiber hole63 c is drilled in each hole. This columnating hole penetrates theribbon connector 63 b, and allows light to pass through the columnatinghole 63 c and into the fiber 65 positioned in the larger diameter shaft.To make this subsystem work, the incident light 68 intersects thepinhole and channel at a near 45 degree angle and the optical extinctiondetection ribbon 63 is mounted directly along the incident light vector(i.e. at an angle of 180 degrees to the incident light) as shown by theposition of the ribbon. The aperture of the columnator must be in excessof the aperture of the pinhole so that for well columnated incidentlight all of the light that crosses the pinhole may be detected in thefiber at the end of the columnator. The columnator itself is chosen tobe long enough to reject any stray light from other channels. Forexample, in one embodiment, the pinhole aperture is 150 micron diameter,the columnator is 250 micron diameter, the fiber is 300 micron diameter,and the collimator, which is positioned within 2 mm of the channel, is 1mm long. At the far end of the fiber array 61, each fiber is attached toa phototube or other optical detector. Optical extinction is oftensufficiently bright to use a photodiode for its detector.

In FIG. 6C, a second ribbon 66 constructed substantially the same as thefirst described ribbon 63 but positioned at 90 degrees from the incidentlight which is appropriate for measuring 90 degree scatter or sidescatter signals from cells or particles. One skilled in the art willrecognize that similar ribbons may be positioned at other angles toobserve other scattering parameters. A particular angle of interest isso called forward scatter which is optical scattering in the almostforward direction generally as close to direct forward positioning(nearly 180 degrees from incident) without acquiring straight throughlight in the extinction path.

In a further embodiment, the light source 11 is a Coherent Sapphire488/200 laser, which is a small, air-cooled solid state device producingabout 200 mw with little or no noise from gas laser tube emissions.Alternatively, an OPSS (optically pumped solid state) laser is used,which is also capable of generating all the different excitationwavelengths needed to perform monitoring. One skilled in the art willrecognize that any suitable light source may be used.

FIG. 7 is a cross-section of one embodiment of beam shaping optics 12suitable for use with the optical detector of the illustrativeembodiment of the invention. The optical schematic is drawn in the x-zplane with the overall direction of light propagation along the z axis.Each dotted line leads up to a light beam x-y profile sketch 14′ to showhow the beam is manipulated by the shaping optics. The beam passes froma single laser 11 output of nearly round profile 700 microns in diameterto a wavelength filtered beam after a low pass or band pass filter 74.The beam then passes through a first pair of cylindrical collimationlenses 73 having focal length 5 mm having focal length 250 mm, whichproduces a substantially rectangular-shaped beam. The beam then passesthrough a focusing lens 71 having focal length is a 150 mm cylindricallens to sharpen the beam 14 to 10 microns in the y-axis. The overallprofile in this embodiment after the focusing lens 71 is 36 mm by 100micron and can be used to illuminate a pinhole array 13 of up to seventypinholes/channels at 500 micron spacing. Since the pinholes are lessthan about 100 microns in the direction of the y-axis, the limitation ofthe beam prevents waste of the light. In an N pinhole chip spaced 500microns on centers it is preferable for the beam to be slightly morethan 500×N microns along the x-axis and 200 microns along the y-axis(slightly more than 100 microns) in order to minimize wasted laserpower. The columnated and shaped beam then intersects the pinhole array13 and becomes N pinhole shaped beams 78 that are spaced to intersectthe matching array of channels 3.

The beam shaping embodiment of FIG. 7 is very usable allowing minimalstray light and acceptable power efficiency of about 10% consideringthat this design allows simultaneous observation of fast (bandwidth>10MHZ) extinction, scatter, and fluorescence from many channels at once.

FIG. 8 shows a reflective beam splitter 80 based on a grooved mirror,suitable for use in the optical detection system of the presentinvention. The beam splitter 80 includes a segmented mirror 83 forsplitting an incoming light beam into a plurality of beams. A columnatedincident beam 82 enters the splitter 80 and is reflected off anincidence mirror 81 which is used to set the correct angle of incidence(generally a low angle) for the beam on the segmented mirror 83, whichsplits the incident beam into an array of smaller beams 84. The array ofsmaller beams 84 extend upwards parallel to the incident beam 82.

The segmented mirror 83 comprises a uniform array of reflective grooves.Preferably, the uniform array comprises anisotropically etched silicon.Alternatively, the uniform array of grooves is made out ofconventionally machined metal with an optical finish. In anotherembodiment, the uniform array of grooves formed in a plastic material,which is then covered with a reflective coating to for the array ofgrooves.

FIG. 9 shows the angles and formulas guiding the design of suchsegmented mirrors. The incident beam 82 is partly clipped by each groove83 a in the mirror and that clipped part is reflected off at a fixedangle to make a narrower beam 84 a. A second narrow beam 84 b is formedby an adjacent groove 84 b. Each groove is separated by the groovespacing A and the splitter generates beams of uniform spot width(assuming uniform grooves) and beam or lane spacing L which we design tomatch the pinhole and channel spacing in the microfluidic chip.

FIG. 10 is a table of embodiments of the beam splitter of FIG. 8 wherelane spacing L is 500 microns and the grooves are fabricated withsilicon anisotropic etching (which has a fixed groove angle e=54.74) Thetable indicates a suitable mirror configuration for a selected spotsize. For example, a 100 micron spot size, is suitable for pinholes <100microns, corresponds to a groove spacing A=575 microns, grooveinclination G=29.7 degrees and incident angle I=25 degrees.

FIG. 11 sketches an embodiment of the beam shaping subsystem 112suitable for use in the optical detector system. The illustrative beamshaping subsystem 112 makes use of a segmented mirror 80, such as thesegmented mirror of FIG. 8, in a final stage after employing similarbeam shaping optics 12 similar to the beam shaping optics 12 describedwith respect to FIG. 7.

An alternative embodiment includes fabricating the pinhole arrays 13 oneach microfluidic chip rather than having them separately mounted on theoptical system.

An alternative embodiment to the detectors for the array of fibers usedin the image plane of FIGS. 4 and 5 is to place an image intensifier inthat plane and place fibers behind that image intensifier to readout theoptical signal it produces on its phosphor. Such an alternative mayreduce costs by using only one light amplifying element (the imageintensifier ) for all the fluorescence signals, and then photodiodes forconversion of post-image intensifier optical signals to electronicsignals.

FIG. 12 shows a picture of a standard Hamamatsu image intensifier 220but one skilled in the art will recognize that any large area lightamplifying component with high spatial resolution may be used in thisalternative. The image intensifier 220 is used to amplify the intensityof an optical image before passing the signal to a photodiode array orother suitable detection device. As shown, the image intensifierincludes an input window 221 for the image signal, a light-sensitiveelectron emitter, such as a photocathode 222, for transforming the lightto photoelectrons, a MCP 223 for electron muitiplication, a phosphorscreen 224 for converting the electrons to light and an output window225, illustrated as a fiber optic plate. According to an illustrativeembodiment, the image intensifier may comprise a 25 mm-40 mm Hamamatsuimage intensifier, though one skilled in the art will recognize that anysuitable device may be used.

An alternative embodiment to both the beam shaping subsystem 12 and thefluorescence detection subsystem 17 includes short pass or long pass orwavelength band pass or band blocking filters to remove stray orspurious source light in the case of the fluorescence detection systemor to remove stray or spurious wavelength components from the lightemitted by the light source 11.

An alternative embodiment to the extinction and scatter detectors 15 and16 is to add an independent laser power monitor to the system to use innormalizing those signals. This is useful since both of those signalsare directly proportional to laser power so noise on the laser maydistort those signals.

An alternative embodiment to the arrays of fibers used with thedetectors 15, 16 and 17 is to replace each array of fibers with an arrayof photodiodes or avalanche photodiodes or other optical detector array.One skilled in the art will recognize that alternative detectors arepossible here as long as they match the light level requirement of thesamples and the form factor requirements of the specific chipembodiments to be used.

An alternative embodiment to the beam splitter might use reflectivegroove arrays manufactured by anisotropically etching crystallinematerials or conventional machining of metal or forming of plasticfollowed by appropriate optical polishing or reflective coating In allembodiments of this invention the pinhole array is generally matched inspacing to the microfluidic channels. When a reflective beam splitter isused in the beam shaping optics it also must be matched to the pinholes.

While the simplest implementations use uniformly arrayed channels anduniformly arrayed pinholes and possibly uniformly arrayed grooves inbeam splitting this is not required by the invention and similarembodiments can be designed to use irregular spacing or patterns ofchannels

An alternative embodiment to the fluorescence detection subsystem A7 isto add narrow bandpass filters before or after the fibers in the imageplane (3-5), (2-8)·a 400 micron fiber in that plane will capture a 10 nmbandwidth. Adding 10 nm or 5 nm bandpass filters will improve thesensitivity and reduce noise in some cases.

The present invention has been described relative to an illustrativeembodiment. Since certain changes may be made in the above constructionswithout departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended thatall matter contained in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are to cover allgeneric and specific features of the invention described herein, and allstatements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language,might be said to fall therebetween.

1. An optical detection system for observing a microfluidic system thatcontains an array of channels for conveying particles or molecules,comprising: a light source for producing a light beam; a set of beamshaping optics for focusing the light beam; an array of pinholes, eachpinhole matched to and associated with a microfluidic channel in saidarray of channels in the microfluidic system; at least one columnateddetector ribbon for one of optical extinction, forward scatter and sidescatter produced after the light beam passes through one of saidchannels via one of said pinholes; and a high numerical aperturefluorescence detector receiving optical signals produced by a particlein any of said array of channels when the particle intersects said lightbeam.
 2. A system for shaping a single incident beam into an array ofsmaller beams at controlled separation using a reflective beam splitter,comprising: a uniform array of reflective grooves; and a positioner forpresenting the array of reflective grooves to an incident beam at aselected angle.
 3. An optical detection system for interrogating amicrofluidic system including an array of microfluidic channels thattransport particles, comprising: a light source for producing a lightbeam; a set of beam shaping optics including a reflective beam splitterfor splitting the light beam into a plurality of subsidiary light beams;an array of pinholes matched to an array of microfluidic channels in themicrofluidic system, wherein the beam shaping optics direct each of saidplurality of subsidiary light beams through one of said pinholes.
 4. Anoptical detection system for observing microfluidic systems that containchannels that convey particles or molecules, comprising: a light sourcefor producing a light beam; a set of beam shaping optics for focusingthe light beam; an array of pinholes matched to the microfluidicchannels, wherein said set of beam shaping optics passes the light beamthrough said array of pinholes; at least one columnated detector ribbon;and a high numerical aperture fluorescence detector for simultaneousinterrogation of a plurality of channels in the microfluidic system andsimultaneous detection of three fluorescence wavelength bands.
 5. Anoptical detection system for observing microfluidic systems that containchannels that convey particles or molecules, comprising: a light sourcefor producing a light beam; a set of beam shaping optics for focusingthe light beam; a pinhole in communication with a channel of themicrofluidic system; and a high numerical aperture fluorescence detectorfor simultaneous interrogation of a plurality of channels in themicrofluidic system and using an image intensifier as an opticalamplification element.
 6. An optical detection system for observingmicrofluidic systems that contain channels that convey particles ormolecules, comprising: one or more lasers illuminating an array ofspatially extended spots through a mask that is only open at the spots;a first high numerical aperture lens positioned to capture light fromthe entire spatially extended array of spots at once; a spectralseparation element for receiving and bending light from the first lens;a second high numerical aperture lens for capturing light bent by thespectral separation element and imaging the captured light onto a secondpinhole array; an image intensifier behind the second pinhole array fordetecting and amplifying light passing through the pinhole array; and anarray of photodiode detectors for capturing and transducing light fromthe image intensifier.
 7. The detector of claim 6, further comprising anelectronic data acquisition system coupled to the photodiode detectorsto acquire an electronic output from the photodiode detectors.
 8. Thedetector of claim 6, further comprising a laser band blocking filterdisposed between the array of spots and the image intensifier.
 9. Thedetector of claim 6, wherein the detector is capable of amplifying lowintensity optical spectra having a duration of less than one millisecondfrom the spatially extended plurality of spots and transducing thespectra into electronic signals.
 10. An optical system, comprising: alight source for producing a light beam that passes through an object tobe monitored, a lens for capturing the light from the light source; anda detector, including a light amplifying element, for detecting a lightsignal and transducing the light signal to an electronic signal
 11. Theoptical system of claim 10, wherein the light amplifying elementcomprises an array of phototubes.
 12. The optical system of claim 10,wherein the light amplifying element comprises a multichannel platebased image intensifier coupled to an array of photodiode detectors.